Myanmar election
stakeholders dialogue with Philippine counterparts

Members of the Myanmar (Burma) Union Election
Commission as well as representatives from civil
society were in the country from September 22-27 for
a study trip sponsored by IFES Philippines to
dialogue with their counterparts and to connect with
electoral peers. According to IFES, the activity was
also held “to provide the opportunity to understand
obstacles and opportunities facing the democratic
process in other countries and gain valuable
insights into approaches to overcome these obstacles
from their peers.

To accomplish this goal, a knowledge-sharing meeting was
held on the 26th with members of Philippine election
monitoring organizations, the media, and other
non-government organizations.

The guests from Myanmar were particularly interested to
learn from their Philippine counterparts the procedures and
activities pertaining to the code of conduct observed during
elections, voters education (specifically about when they
are being done), any election rules pertaining to religion,
the conduct of by-elections (which the Philippines does not
have), and voting for PWDs. The guests were also interested
to learn about the Philippine Constitution's provisions on
elections, as well as campaign regulations and campaign
finance.

On the topic of the election commission working closely
with election monitoring groups, NAMFREL council member
Damaso Magbual stressed the importance of seeing each other
as partners, working together and having regular dialogue,
and harmonizing each other’s calendar of activities.

In July, Mr. Magbual, as chairman of the Asian Network for
Free Elections (ANFREL), met with U Tin Aye, Chief Election
Commissioner of Myanmar and the rest of the commissioners
and election directors to talk about the 2015 elections in
Myanmar as well as plans to monitor the process.